Interviews can be a process that can make you nervous and not perform to the best of your ability.
We have put our brains together and come up with our top interview tips to help refresh your minds and hopefully help you with any interviews. These include:
- Be on time! First impressions are important, and the time of your arrival can be a contributing factor. Try to walk through the door 10 minutes before the scheduled time, if you arrive too early that could also have an adverse effect. Plan yourself plenty of travel time and if you arrive early, park up and gather your thoughts.
- Don’t forget important documents. Safeguarding is a high priority working in the education sector so ensure you take with all your documents. Most importantly you’re DBS, ID and Qualifications.
- Dress to impress. We believe that you should look as smart as you can, a suit if possible. If you do not feel comfortable in a suit, make sure that you look like you have tried to look smart and presentable.
- Plan obvious questions. Take the time to write out obvious interview questions and answers. Then, use a friend, partner or a mirror to practice your answer so you can deliver impressive answers.
- Be yourself. Make sure you get across your personality and what you are good at, ask questions. An interview is a great opportunity to see if you would like to work there in the future, you need to also like them!
- The interview starts at arrival. Often people forget this, the interview starts as soon as you are on site. The decision makers are likely to ask the receptionist, site manager, students etc of their thoughts. Make sure you are treating everything with confidence and respect.
- Enthusiasm. This is something most interviewers want to see, make sure it doesn’t get confused with cockiness. Show a positive attitude for the role and the institution you are applying to work for.
- Finish the interview strong. Ask questions, focus on strategic priorities, current trends, issues and challenges. If you are interested in the role, reiterate this at the end.
We hope that some of these tips can help you prepare for future interviews and if you want to get any comments or suggestions please feel free to contact us via email.